Jeff Scott

  • Associate Professor of Horn

Areas of Study

Education

• BM (French horn), Manhattan School of Music
• MM (French horn), State University of New York at Stony Brook

Biography

Jeff Scott served as French hornist of the Oberlin-founded ensemble Imani Winds for more than 20 years, a position that took him to Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and countless other prominent stages—as well as the stage of Finney Chapel for an Artist Recital Series performance in 2014. With Imani Winds, he led master classes with hundreds of students every year.

Scott has been a member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Dance Theater of Harlem since 1995, and he has performed numerous times with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. He was an orchestra member for The Lion King’s Broadway run from 1997 to 2005, as well as the 1994 revival of Show Boat.

In the studio, Scott has performed on movie soundtracks by Terence Blanchard and Tan Dun, and has collaborated with the likes of Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Chris Brubeck, Jimmy Heath, and others. He has toured with the backing ensembles of Barbra Streisand and Luther Vandross.

Insatiable in his appetite for all aspects of the creative process, Scott has served as composer or arranger for a multitude of projects, including an Off Broadway production of Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee and the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of le Jazz Hot!, in addition to many original works for solo winds and ensembles of all kinds.

Scott is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied under David Jolley. He earned a master’s degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook under William Purvis, and he continued his studies with Scott Brubaker and Jerome Ashby.

Fall 2023

Principal Private Study - Horn — PVST 012
Secondary Private Study - Horn — PVST 062
Chamber Music — APST 800
Contemporary Chamber Music — APST 805
Horn Ensemble — APST 816

Spring 2024

Principal Private Study - Horn — PVST 012
Secondary Private Study - Horn — PVST 062
Brass Ensemble — APST 713
Chamber Music — APST 800
Contemporary Chamber Music — APST 805
Horn Ensemble — APST 816

Notes

Two Works by Horn Professor and Composer Jeff Scott Given World Premiere Performances

April 19, 2022

Oberlin French horn professor Jeff Scott also pursues a rich life as a composer. This spring, his pieces have been part of world premiere performances in New York and Detroit. 

Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall was the setting for a March 31 performance of his song "Für Meinen Vater" (For My Father). Scott’s song is part of a larger work which received its world premiere that evening, the song cycle Forgotten Voices. Commissioned by Music Kitchen—Food for the Soul, a project of violinist Kelly Hall-Tomkins, with additional support from Carnegie Hall, it features text by homeless shelter clients. The full cycle incorporates songs written by 15 award-winning composers, including Oberlin alumna Courtney Bryan '04.

Scott's most recent premiere on April 9,  was a commission of Chamber Music Detroit. Prior to his appointment at Oberlin, Scott was a member of the Oberlin alumni-founded chamber music ensemble Imani Winds. For this project, he collaborated with his longtime ensemble partners on the work, Fallen Petals of Nameless Flowers. The piece features poetry by Robert Laidler and is based on the experiences of four Michigan Juvenile Lifers. Imani Winds counts among its members three Oberlin alumni—flutist Brandon Patrick George '08, oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz '94, and bassoonist Monica Ellis '95. View the full performance

Detroit Symphony Orchestra premieres commissioned orchestral work by Jeff Scott

August 13, 2021

Recently appointed Associate Professor of French Horn Jeff Scott will have a newly commissioned orchestral work, "Paradise Valley Serenade" premiered by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Jader Bignamini, Music Director, over a three-concert series November 12-14. The work musically depicts the glorious histories of Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, Detroit. These cities were known for their significant African American entrepreneurialism and thriving cultural scene, including an unrivaled Jazz club district. By the 1960's all but a few edifices were razed to make way for highway projects and "urban renewal."

Composition by French horn professor Jeff Scott featured on CSOtv

February 23, 2021

Conservatory French horn professor Jeff Scott is also an accomplished composer. CSOtv, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s streaming platform, features his woodwind quintet work Startin’ Sumthin’ this February, part of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago’s Episode 2 broadcast. You can hear the performance at cso.org/csotv/features/black-history-month.

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